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The woman living at the Pierce County property where more than 1,300 animals were removed amid dog- and cock-fighting suspicions tried sneaking a safe containing 5 pounds of methamphetamine out of the house, according to authorities.

A criminal complaint against 36-year-old Spring Valley resident Senyen Vang describes how she was allowed by Pierce County sheriff’s deputies to retrieve personal items from her house Aug. 31 while officers executed a search warrant. A deputy watched her dump out a clothes hamper that contained a backpack.

The deputy told Vang to take the rest of her belongings, but to leave the backpack behind. Investigators later found a safe inside the bag. An investigator pried open the safe and found five individually wrapped 1-pound packages containing meth, the complaint states.

The investigator estimated the street wholesale value at $32,000, though he noted that value would increase as the drugs were resold in smaller amounts.

“This methamphetamine is packaged to be sold to dealers who will break it up into smaller quantities to be sold to methamphetamine users,” the investigator wrote in his report, which notes the packages were packed with automotive grease in an attempt to elude police dogs.

Buckets at the property containing marijuana were also confiscated, according to the complaint, which goes on to note that “dog-fighting paraphernalia,” including a scale and a bite-break stick, were found in the living room.

Vang was charged Friday, Sept. 7, with felony meth possession and three misdemeanors: obstructing an officer, THC possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. She made her initial appearance Friday afternoon, where she was ordered to post $5,000 cash bond.

Sheriff’s officials said Vang’s County Road BB property in the town of Gilman was the scene of a large-scale animal fighting operation, where chickens and dogs have been removed over the past week by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals group.

Mike Longaecker is the regional public safety reporter for RiverTown Multimedia. His coverage area spans St. Croix and Pierce counties. Longaecker served from 2011-2015 as editor of the Woodbury Bulletin. A University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate, Longaecker previously reported for the Red Wing Republican Eagle and for the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau. You can follow him on Twitter at @Longaecker